DES MOINES, Iowa – With only 20 days until the Iowa caucuses, four GOP candidates made their pitch to social conservatives tonight at the premiere of an anti-abortion documentary narrated by the former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum addressed the 1200 person crowd before the house lights dimmed for the “The Gift of Life” premiere.

“I do want you to take note,” Huckabee told the crowd. “There were four candidates who cleared their schedules, and made this a priority event.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in Iowa polls, won the biggest applause from the crowd tonight – and aimed his remarks at his competitors.

“I have some problems with some of the folks who running for office these days when they say, ‘I believe life begins at conception.’  That’s like, I say, ‘I believe the sun rises.’” Santorum said, to laughs.

“Why would you say you believe something that’s a fact?” Santorum added. It seemed to be a reference, at least in part, to Gingrich, who spoke minutes earlier in favor of a congressional bill that would define personhood as beginning at conception – though Santorum said later tonight he was talking about a number of his opponents. "I know that there have been several candidates for president who have stated they believe life begins at conception – and as I said, it’s not a belief, its a fact," Santorum told NBC News.

During her remarks, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attacked the Obama administration for considering – before reversing course – making the “Plan B” morning-after pill available on pharmacy shelves, “where little girls could find it next to bubble gum and next to M&M’s."

"President Obama is so tied up in his reelection that even he knew that was one step too far,” Bachmann said. Governor Rick Perry touted his record defunding Planned Parenthood in Texas, where he said 12 clinics have closed as a result. He called the new film a tactic in the fight against abortion, saying, “imagine the difference you can make not in just one life, but in two.”

Attacks on Gingrich awaited people after the movie premiere.  A group billed as "Iowans for Life" paid for fliers on cars that read, "The bottom line: Newt Gingrich is a pro-life fraud."

But as Huckabee pointed out during his short remarks inside the theater: “I think it is significant that all four of the candidates who are present tonight have endorsed life. And that ought to be very important.”

DES MOINES, Iowa -- One month ahead of the highly anticipated Iowa caucuses, one candidate has effectively ended his campaign and a new poll in the first-in-the-nation state provides more evidence that a new dynamic has emerged.

A new Iowa Poll by the Des Moines Register shows that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has surged into a clear lead in the state, the results coming on the same day that Georgia businessman Herman Cain suspended his run for the White House.

In the new survey, taken before Cain's announcement, Gingrich received 25 percent of support from likely caucus goers.  His showing is a gain of 18 percentage points since the last Iowa Poll was released on Oct. 29. That poll showed Gingrich in fifth place, trailing Cain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Romney dropped 6 percentage points and into third place in the new survey, polling at just 16 percent

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas moved into second place in the Register's poll, with 18 percent, up from 12 percent.

Eleven percent of likely caucus goers say they are undecided. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota trails with 8 percent (the same she polled in the October poll), Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum are tied at 6 percent, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman came in at 2 percent.

Although the poll was conducted before his announcement, Cain received just 8 percent in the new poll.

Gingrich has risen despite spending no money on television advertising in the state thus far and having just opened a campaign headquarters in the state this week.

This new Iowa Poll was made public just after a prominent Northwest Iowa newspaper, the Sioux City Journal, give its endorsement to Romney saying he has the "experience, skills and charisma to lead the country." The Register has yet to endorse a candidate.

Gingrich now commands a nine-point lead over Romney with 30 days to go before Iowans vote.

"Solutions matter and so does Iowa. Newt is going to keep campaigning hard and when it is time to caucus Iowa will be able to choose a President who is offering leadership now," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond told NBC News shortly after the poll was released.

Such volatility in Iowa is not abnormal.  Four years ago at this time, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee jumped ahead of Romney in the Des Moines Register poll. Huckabee moved ahead of Romney by 5 percentage points and went on to win the caucuses a month later.

 New NBC News/Marist polls from Iowa and New Hampshire will be released Sunday at 9 a.m. EST, as well.

An analysis from the Des Moines Register notes that the race in Iowa is still far from settled, as 60 percent said they could still change their minds. Forty-three percent of likely caucus goers picked Gingrich as first or second, according to the paper.

There are three upcoming debates in Iowa: Dec. 10, Dec. 15 and Dec. 27.

From NBC's Alex Moe
JOHNSTON, Iowa -- Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told hundreds of Iowans in the state’s largest county that his new front-runner status is “disorienting.”

A crowd of more than 400 Republicans listened as the former House speaker laid out his vision for the country at the Polk County GOP Victory Dinner.

“This is such a rapid change that we’re having to rethink our own internal operation right now and where we are,” he told more than two-dozen journalists following his speech.

“We’re in a mess. We’re in a mess in Washington, we’re in a mess economically, we’re in a mess with radical judges. Just go down the list,” he told the sold-out crowd.

It was a notably different speech than Gingrich typically gives on the trail -- something he acknowledged afterwards.

“I would not have given this speech 2 weeks ago because it wouldn’t have seemed to make sense for this guy who was the underdog to be up here talking about the totality of the future,” Gingrich told reporters.

The former speaker dedicated a larger portion of his speech Thursday to attacks on President Barack Obama, calling him a “Saul Alinsky radical.”

“He believes in a world in which the classic America has disappeared. He believes in a world where the United Nations is more important than the United States Congress. He believes in a world of internationally law rather than of the U.S. Constitution,” Gingrich noted.

But the spotlight was also on Gingrich’s position on a controversial issue – child labor laws. During an earlier stop Thursday, he suggested children in poor neighborhoods should start working. Pressed following the dinner, Gingrich didn’t say what age he thought might be appropriate to get a job.

“I think the country has to decide. Different states may do it differently, different cities might do it differently,” Gingrich said. “I am trying to create a mindset that says the best way to get poor children to have a chance to rise is in fact to help them early on, learn the work ethic.”

During his roughly 45-minute speech, the speaker was interrupted frequently by applause.

“Newt Gingrich is always well organized. He is focused. And his message resonated with this crowd,” Polk Co. GOP Chairman Kevin McLaughlin told NBC News. “Social conservatives and social moderates are coming to Newt. And I think that’s a sign we have a uniter that will go the distance.”

But, the speaker still has a long road ahead. Before getting to Obama, he would have to take on Mitt Romney, whom he didn’t mention during his speech. Gingrich did not take the bait when reporters asked him to distinguish himself from the former Massachusetts governor.

“I am happy to be who I am. I think that distinguishes me from Romney,” Gingrich said. He also stated he would “probably” not attack Romney during the two upcoming debates in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

But, he added, “If he puts his hand on my shoulder, that might be different,” a reference to a heated exchange during an October debate, when Romney placed his hand on Rick Perry.

The former House speaker, who is leading in many state and national polls, has come a long way since this summer.

“As many of you know, I was supposedly in June and July dead. So it is great to be back,” Gingrich joked during the dinner.

He received three standing ovations as 15 TV cameras rolled.

“I have to confess that while I was hoping for a wave, we’ve had sort of a tsunami,” he said.

Slideshow: Images from Newt Gingrich's career

(NBC's Jamie Novogrod contributed to this report.)

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Newt Gingrich made President Obama his only target in a town hall here tonight, describing what he believes would be a brutal general election fight against the president.  

“In January 2012, Gingrich-Obama campaign will come down to two questions: Can you endure the pain of four more years of radical incompetence, which would be my argument, and, can I survive the weight of negativity, smears, assaults and lies that they’re going to throw?” Gingrich said.

Speaking to a packed Newberry Opera House after a fundraising barbecue for the South Carolina Republican Party, Gingrich added that the Obama campaign is already attacking Republican candidates because the president can’t highlight his first-term record.

“Watch their first ambushes against Romney and ask yourselves this question: Why would a president of the United States run an attack ad in November before there’s even a Republican nominee? It’s because they’ve got nothing positive to say about three and a half years of failure.”

While the Democratic National Committee and pro-Obama Super-PAC Priorities USA (run by former Obama administration officials) have already begun to attack Mitt Romney, the Obama campaign itself has not, releasing its first ad, a direct appeal to voters from the president, today. 

Gingrich dared Obama to run a strictly positive campaign, saying it would greatly reduce his re-election chances, although Gingrich seemed uninterested in doing so himself, referring to the president as a “Saul Alinsky radical” at least three times during the town hall.

The twenty-year congressman and former House speaker’s criticism of Washington was not limited to the president, as he also slammed members of Congress for making insider trades, saying newly-elected members should have to keep their assets in blind trusts.

“It is so clear that they have so much power that there is no way to build trust in an environment where they can make money out of what they’re doing,” Gingrich said.

He also suggested that Congress’ record-low approval ratings are a threat to the country. “You can’t sustain freedom in a country where that level of contempt exists for one of the key institutions of self-government.”

Gingrich also criticized inside-the-Beltway political consultants, suggesting former President George W. Bush’s team could have had a bigger win in the 2004 re-election campaign if they had listened to Gingrich’s advice.

“In the summer of 2004 I wrote a paper for the Bush campaign arguing that [Democratic nominee John] Kerry was vulnerable to a catastrophic defeat,” Gingrich said, noting Kerry’s liberal voting record. “And I couldn’t get the consultants to agree to run a campaign based on ideas,” he added in remarks reminiscent of those he made after former campaign staffers resigned en masse in June.

“My campaign consultants understood 30-second attack ads,” Gingrich said on Fox and Friends on June 15th. “They didn’t understand you could actually write a book with big ideas and actually campaign talking about big ideas.”

Absent from his remarks tonight was any real criticism of Mitt Romney, although Gingrich generated attention for saying he is “a lot more conservative than Mitt Romney” during a radio interview with a Charleston station on Monday morning.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – While he doubled down on his belief that some illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S., Newt Gingrich sounded an otherwise hard tone on the issue at a town hall here.

Seeking to capitalize on his campaign’s newfound momentum, Gingrich told a packed house at the College of Charleston’s Sottile Theater that he stands by his view that some illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country, a position for which he’s taken conservative heat since mentioning it at CNN’s foreign policy debate last week.

“Take someone who’s been here for 25 years. They’ve been obeying the law for 25 years, they’ve been paying taxes for 25 years, they’re married, they have 3 kids, 2 grandkids and belong to a church. Do you really think the American people are going to send a policeman to take that person away from their family? I don’t,” Gingrich said.

But he clarified that he thinks the number of immigrants that provision would affect is “relatively small.”

He also pushed back on claims from his opponents, most notably Michele Bachmann, that he supports amnesty for illegal immigrants (Bachmann said earlier this week that Gingrich has “a long history of supporting amnesty”).

“Several of my friends have said I'm for amnesty.  That's not true.  At least one of them has run around saying I want to have amnesty for 11 million people.  That's just totally false.  That's in fact an Obama level quality statement,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich took a hard line when outlining his overall immigration policy, saying he would cut off federal funds to any city that declares itself a “sanctuary city,” and that he would make deportation of illegal immigrants easier, especially if they have a history of criminal behavior.

When making that last point, Gingrich singled out one group, Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, a gang of mostly Salvadoran but also other Central and South American immigrants.

“If you are a member of MS-13, which is a very dangerous gang in over 190 cities, membership of that gang should be automatic evidence you should be deported,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich’s comments came just hours after his campaign released a statement from the candidate condemning the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against South Carolina’s newly passed immigration law. The department is blocking some provisions of the law that it says usurps federal authority.

He reiterated that statement during opening remarks at tonight’s town hall here, which was hosted by South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott.

“Instead of coming down here hat in hand to apologize for the absolute failure of the federal government, the Obama administration filed a lawsuit against the state of South Carolina,” Gingrich said.